Labor Day and Saying Goodbye

Well we successfully made it through the long weekend and getting George off to TX. We had a BBQ on Sunday and it was surprisingly low-key and fantabulous. Everyone was on their best behavior and it was very chill. I busted my heiny on the grill the whole time (you know this whole "George can't cook thing is getting old") but everyone enjoyed the food since there was nothing left practically. And then to top it off, right around 9pm, there were fireworks going off right off the base which we had a beautiful view of. I had to debo a pic from my neighbor Tara since I was too busy to take pics...thx girl! Teage was scared of them...which was funny because he is such a fearless dude. But they were a great added bonus!

So anyway, this past week has been filled with accommodating George and his Battle Buddy in getting some last minute modules done before they headed off this morning. They had 31 to do and by no means were they short. So it has been late nights and a lot of detouring the kids so he could get them done. All I have to say is those dang modules were causing problems in my marriage LOL. But he got them done around 9pm last night and had just enough time to pack and make a few phone calls and the next thing I knew Teage and I were waving bye to him on the sidewalk.

I think it's awesome that he's going to TX cause then he will get to visit the other Isla Familia and that beautiful nephew of ours...Joaquin. He is one of the cutest little men I've ever seen. And yes I am slightly jealous, but I know George will make sure to take lots of pictures. And he might even get lucky and get a chance to meet baby Camille if she comes early. Gotta love the babies...

Anyhoo, this was just an informational blog...not many pictures this time. I will be putting up more in the next few days as me and the kids do some mommy bonding time together. Plus, I am full steam ahead into my classes again this fall. I enjoyed the summer off, but now there's no hiding. Psych and Speech are pretty easy so I am glad that is what I am starting with. Miss everyone and kisses to all...Love ya!!

The Firsts

Saigie Baby had her first game this weekend playing for the Oki Flames. Coming from a winless season last year, the Flames have really stepped it up this year (nevermind that George is one of the coaches this year...he told me to put that LOL). They started off their season winning 15-4 and Saige got on base for every at bat and was the lead off batter. We are so proud of her and know that she has inherited her daddy's good sports skills. Look at her taking one of her many swings...


She also played 2nd base the whole game and got 2 girls out at 1st. It's funny because they all look so annoyed when playing the field. At least she was in the infield I guess...

Another first for us was the 1st day of school. WOO HOO! Saige was all so independent about it and of course didn't need any guidance by mom this morning. Dad dropped her off and said he was going to get out of the car and yell out some sweet nothings to her as she started to walk into the courtyard. I guess he changed his mind since she was almost ready to pay him off if he didn't. Good thing I did a little shopping locally, since I have still not recieved their school clothes I ordered online the first few days of August. That reminds me to boycott oldnavy.com. Anyway, she looked cutie and so did JD. Here she is posing it out...

JD was all ready to go this morning. I was wondering how he was going to react when I woke him up, but once he got up, he was all good. Getting ready to go...

Here is the back of the school which is where the student drop off is. Daddy walked him down to his line while Teage and I waited in the car. You can barely see them walking about midway down the sidewalk.

I can't believe we have a big 5th grader ready to take on his last year of elementary. I got a call from his teacher at around 2pm today saying she had to make a call to let us know that he jumped right in today ready to show those 4th graders how it's done. He is in a multiage classroom (4th and 5th) for the first time ever and I think it's going to be good for him to have some responsibility of being the oldest and setting the example. We are really excited to see his changes this year.

Next week George leaves for the TX and so we are having a BBQ to send him off. We'll catch you up again then... Love ya!!

Team 58 Catches Another Victory!

So all this softball has got me tired and weary...and Saige's season hasn't even started yet. The emotional roller coaster we have had to endure through each game has been intense, nevermind that I have to keep score which means less heckling for me, but last night it finally paid off! 58th Signal BN is the Army Softball Champions once again on Okinawa!!! The playoffs started Monday night, which we won because the team actually decided not to show and so it was a forfeit....they were scurred. Wed there was another game where if we won that one we were playing right after for 1st place. Despite a few shady absences by teammates, we managed to win in the last inning. The next game was a slaughter...23 to 15! We were all so geeked about it and I took tons of photos. The lighting there was crappy, but I guess it made everything look Signal Orange...SWEET!

Since George was the coach (big surprise) he gets the big ol trophy that he proudly shows off...who cares about the dirt all over his body. I swear he has a superstition that he needs to eat dirt at every game.

This win was for Sheila. She would have been so proud of those guys. She loved the game and loved to win. They sucked it up for ya girl!

See ya next year for a three-peat!!!

Dam...Water Parks rock!

Well, we have successfully conquered another week of our winding summer. I had some FRG stuff to attend to (a baby shower and mini-meetings) but more importantly we visited some places that were not only fun but refreshing. Once we got past the God awful night of softball hell...(I was almost ejected from a game and had the MPs called on me, by the way...since when can they eject fans?) I was truly misread :o) We also found out that George will be going to the states the first week of Sept for about 3 weeks for 1SG course. I am totally jealous that he's gonna be eating Arby's...I told him if he loved me he would dry ice that crap for me and make it happen LOL. I know he is going to see baby Joaquin, oh yeah as well as Alex and Rhea (hee hee) and I am really annoyed by that. I know he will kiss him all over for me too but it's not the same. And I am also missing my family reunion this weekend...I am waiting for the pictures Ebeth (no pressure). Happy 90th Grandma!!! I love you all and wish we could have been there to see you guys. Well, back to our exciting life....

Anyway, Wednesday I took the big kids to the Kurashiki Dam with my girlfriend Brooke and her son, which is really cute and a great place for a picnic or some minnow hunting. JD was all about it and was already in the creek before we made it down the stairs.

The water was extremely shallow, but that didn't stop JD from taking a full-on swim in there.

I had to coax Saige and her friend to get their feet wet and venture into the water. Saige didn't like how "brown" the water was.

From the looks of it, Brooke had fun...

While we were exploring the waterfalls, we noticed full size fish swimming around...so it looks like we were really "swimming with the fishes" as the old fashioned mobsters would say.

There were some local kids there picking up things from the water and placing them in nets...I walked up to try and see and it looked like little fishies and maybe some hermit crabs. JD brought me one as a gift...it never came out of its shell though. I definitely will be back with the whole family soon.

We also made our way back to the water park this weekend, this time with the whole fam bam in tow. Teage wasn't feeling it at first. I guess too much going on for him. But he warmed up and really took to the lazy river...along with his dad.

It has the makings of a good old water park with slides and a kid area and waterfalls.

Saige brought another friend and they were pretending they were Charlie's Angels I guess.

JD stayed on the river for over an hour and finally made his way to the tubey slide. He was rolling with laughter...

Overall, it was good times and made the hot weekend a little more cooler.

This coming week is the last of the summer, we have more adventures lined up for next week before we all get back to the books. I think we're ready for it though. I will post the pics form our last days of summer vacation asap. Love ya....

P.S. This is why I love this place...

B2SB and the week leading up to it...

Well, I have had one hell of a busy week and now that it's Sunday, I feel like I want to just crawl into bed and stay there on this rainy day!! Anyway, back to reality...we ended up doing some interesting things this week. Monday, I took JD bowling with the moms and kids from a new group I joined called "Moms on Okinawa". There are meetups scheduled and you can just show up with your kids, meet some new faces and give the kids a mini adventure. I think I will try to start going to more of these...it was fun. JD was playing with the camera...

Wednesday, JD and I (Saige had her last day of DEFY on this day...I was missing my girl) went with a friend Brooke and her son JG to the little water park about 10 min from my house. It was my first time there so I didn't know if it was a place I could keep up with the camera, so I left it in the car. BUT, I realized it wasn't that serious so we will be returning real soon with all the kids in tow and take tons of pics...so be on the lookout.

Thursday, the kids painted their pottery trays they had made last week and they turned out AWESOME!

I love crafts!!!

In between all these activities, I was planning the Back to School Bash (B2SB) for Saturday with my FRG girls. We ended up giving away about $500 worth of free school supplies and prizes. It was awesome. Every child left with something and it felt good. Shelia would have been proud....except for the times when the kids would come up to get their prize and not even utter the word "Thanks" or look slightly enthused with what they were being given. That was a bit disappointing as far as parenting is concerned. What happened to teaching kids to be humble and appreciative?? It threw me off...Good thing my girl went up there with a big smile and happy to get her Army book bag. Not to mention that she won the grand prize (an Ipod)...she was on cloud nine since she seems to have misplaced hers recently. (I say misplaced because I am still in denial that it could be gone) She scored either way, positivity breeds good karma!!

JD was all about the games. I had to almost force him to start playing at first, but once he did...he was all over it. Here he is doing the water balloon toss and the sack race. Good times!!

Do you see him??

Here's my Teagie and George walking up...George had just rolled in from a 24 hour softball tournament.All in all, the day was a success and my kids had a fun time.

One more weird question...is a banana's well being really this important??? I found this absurd contraption at the Yen store (dollar store) and was standing there in amazement. Who knew??

Catch you up on next week...soon! Loves

Summer crafting...cont'd

Well, the flower arrangement JD made is still alive and kicking. I am loving it. The next day we went back to the Arts & Crafts Center to take a ceramic/pottery class. This time Saige was able to go and again, I was impressed by their little artsy skills. JD, of course, went for the Indiana Jones motif. He even drew the whip-wielding hero on his tray...he's so funny!


Saige decided to go the souvenir route and made a beautiful "Island of Okinawa" tray.

Once they were done, they had to leave them there to dry before they could paint and glaze them. So we'll be back Thursday to finish up these fantabulous pieces of pottery. I can't wait to see the finished product. After we were done with that, we made a pit stop over at the Torii Pool to let the kids get their feet wet. JD was born half fish I think and immediately gravitated towards the slide which I think saw his heiny about 15 times. Gotta love a water slide...

Saige just laid out by the pool...she was apparently too cool for the water that day LOL.

And Teage was everywhere at the pool...being Teage!!

Once we got home, we rented some movies and Batman was the topic of conversation with the Dark Knight movie out, the animated movie on DVD, and the upcoming Lego Batman video game. The boys decided to take it a bit further and channel their inner Batman...Teage was all about copying his big bro!!!

The big kids are going to see the Dark Knight movie with a few friends tonight. I hope JD gets the fix he's been looking for. Actaully, I'm kind of glad they are going and not me...the Joker creeps me out!! Well, tomorrow's starts another work week. I'm thinking about the beach...

Catch you guys later!!! Kiss kiss...

Crafts Rule!

I am finally feeling like writing on the baby blog since all has happened. I appreciate everyone's support and well wishes.

I had a busy week this week, and I am grateful. Monday I had to start taking the girls (Saige and our neighbor Kenzie) to DEFY for their annual summer camp. DEFY stands for Drug Education For Youth program. It tackles issues like drugs and alcohol, smoking, bullying, and my favorite peer pressure. Saige started in the program last summer and now has achieved the status of Junior Mentor. I love it that she has responsibilities to the new kids and to the adult mentors this time around. They have a great time and visit all these cool places on island, so she is having a blast! I also had lunch with Farrah and had some quality girlfriend time.

Poquito had an appt this week for his last shot for the year. I also made THE appt for him to be neutered on the 22nd of Aug. Poor guy has no idea what he is up against. George is feeling his pain and trying to convince me that it's not necessary (how cute that he feels he needs to stand up for his fellow males). But of course I have to be the enforcer and insist. Quito has already made a "close" friend with the blue teddy bear, and by close I mean he assumes they are dating and deserves private time. He weighs over 7lbs now and I keep telling him that he needs to slow down the growth spurt...Check out our big boy!!

Additionally we had one of George's softball games this week and Saige's first softball practice to boot. JD and I have had some good old QT with each other and went to see Kung Fu Panda...that boy loves his movies!

Another Mommy & JD moment was going to Torii's (the Army base here) arts and crafts center. JD made me the most beautiful flower arrangement (I know he is a boy and people might be wondering why am I torturing him with flower frenzy). But I couldn't resist letting him open up to his creativity...he was brilliant!

Before:

During:

After:

JD and the Teacher...

Here are all the kids with their finshed products. I am so thrilled that JD made that all by himself (I only had to do a couple adjustments on the flowers that he accidentally bent trying to force them into that watery, green block). And would you believe that is cost a mere $5 for this fun-filled craft. Gotta love the Army's recreational services.

Tomorrow we are making a pottery tray, this time Saige will be there to get the full experience. I'll post those pics next. Well, I'm off to get some things done before George and I go out on our date night. Thank heavens for the weekends. Love ya!!